Deep Blossoming Meditation

Sit in a quiet place and make yourself comfortable. Bring your focus within and breathe deeply several times, watching the rise and fall of your abdomen with each in and out breath. If thoughts or sensations arise, just allow them.

Focus on your heart and if you wish gently place one of your hands (or finger tips) on the centre of your chest. Now visualize roots growing down from the base of your spine deep into the earth. See these roots as strong, healthy, and spread out all around below you. With your breath, pull up the energy from these roots and the earth into your body and into your heart. Repeat this several times. Now from the heavens, visualize a golden thread flowing down into the top of your head into your heart and harmonizing with the energy of the earth. Rest here for as long as you wish.

When you are ready, ask yourself “What’s ready to blossom in my life now? What creative projects are ready to be seeded for cultivation and flowering in coming months?”

Allow yourself to open fully to feelings, thoughts, and inspirations and when you are ready write these in your journal. At your first opportunity, look over the writing and sense what you can act on to start the blossoming.

Pulling Through Thunder

As soon as you awake, rest in the softness of your inner body and the state between sleeping and waking. When you are ready, bring your awareness to your heart and breathe deeply several times. Let yourself rest here for as long as you wish then make the intention to be receptive to what the creative source wants to offer you today. Trust you will receive exactly what you need and be grateful for this.

Throughout the day, be alert and aware of any impulses, images, inspirational flashes, thoughts, and feelings. Keep a small notebook with you and if you hear a line of words or see an image write these down as soon as you can. (You can also make the intention to remember what you’ve seen/heard throughout the day and write these in your journal the next morning.)

Stay alert to the next steps in the process and carry these out as soon as you can.

FIVE-MINUTE WRITING PRACTICE

Bring your focus within and breathe deeply several times,

noticing the rise and fall of your abdomen with every in and out breath.

When you feel centred, take your pen and notebook and write the

following words on the top of the page: open, letting go, fall, mystery.

Choose one to work with and start writing anything that comes to you,

whatever it is. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar or anything else.

Allow the words to pour onto the page as they want to.

Write for five minutes or longer. Be grateful for what has arrived on the page.

If you sense more writing to come or that the writing wants to be shaped

into a poem or vignette, mark a time on your calendar to do this.

Through the Door Practice

Visualize yourself standing in front of a door.  You see a word written above it, then open the door and walk through it. You find yourself in a room with a chair and table in the centre. You walk over to the chair and sit down. On the table is an open book. You see the word from the top of the door, close your eyes, and breathe deeply. Now allow yourself to open to any images, feelings, or thoughts about the word. If a memory or image arises enter it fully, noticing what you see, smell, taste, touch, and feel. Continue to immerse yourself in whatever is arising. When this feels complete, get up, cross the room, open the door, and bring your awareness to your everyday surroundings. Pick up your pen and write out what you experienced as fully as you can.  Read over the writing and let it sit overnight. Sense what it wants to be, then be alert for the next step and carry it out.

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The Heart Breath

The heart is unfailing in its guidance on the creative path. The heart is our innermost self, who we are at the deepest core. When we bring our awareness within and breathe deeply, we can access its stirrings, which often come as impulses or longings that our rational mind ignores. The more we rest in the heart space, the more we are aware of these inner urgings and with awareness we can act on them.

Sometimes the heart may urge you to write something your mind perceives as difficult, such as a traumatic experience from your childhood or adult life. The mind pulls back in fear, but the heart allows the experience. It guides you back to the event, so you will find the gold inside and retrieve it. When you go back to an experience, you find new insights waiting for you. The experience loses its terror. It just is. The heart understands this.  The mind never will. It will say, “No, I don’t want to go there, it’s too dangerous.” Yet bringing light and healing to difficult experiences helps us move forward. We cease to hold these in our bodies, for they are released onto the page. The same applies to joyful moments. As we go deeply into pivotal moments and articulate the feelings they evoke in words, we are able to share them with others. The following is a poem I wrote resting in my heart space several years ago:

Winter Afternoon

My face tips towards yours in such a way

that your breath softens into mine,

your eyelids, cheeks, mouth

lose all they’ve carried for nearly forty years,

your skin growing almost translucent.

For an instant nothing matters in this face

now a small child’s shining

from another life, or one still to come,

or perhaps I’m watching the face

that’s been here all along

had I the eyes to see it

Practice: The Heart Breath

Find a comfortable place to sit and bring your focus deep within your body, breathing fully several times. As you continue to breathe, notice the rise and fall of your abdomen with each in and out breath. Now bring your focus gently into the centre of your chest and be aware of any sensations there, whether pulsing, aching or tightness. It may help to rest the tips of your fingers of one hand in the centre of your chest. Continue breathing deeply for several minutes, just noticing what is there without labeling or trying to control it in any way. When you feel ready, sense if there is something in the space of your heart that wishes to be expressed on the page. Is there an image or feeling you feel drawn to write about? Gently pick up your pen and begin writing any words that wish to arise, regardless of how they are coming. Write until the writing feels complete.

After you have put down your pen, take a short break (even a walk around the room) and read over what you’ve written, highlighting any compelling words or passages. Sense if you can shape this into a piece, or whether the writing contains an idea for more exploratory writing. Set aside time to do this within the next few days.

Lorraine Gane © 2018